ABU DHABI - A fire broke out in an illegal workers' compound in Abu Dhabi early Friday, leaving ten foreign workers killed and eight others injured, local media reported on Saturday.

According to the Abu Dhabi daily The National, the blaze started Friday morning on the first floor of a two-storey commercial building, whose upstairs warehouse space was illegally used as accommodation for the workers.

The foreign workers were killed when they were asleep as the fire gutted the building in Abu Dhabi's Mussafah district.

Abu Dhabi police said on Saturday that the building owner has been taken into custody, and an arrest warrant for other suspects has been issued, including for the building's supervisor who is still at large, Gulf news reported.

The police has not disclosed the names of the killed workers, but said they are of different nationalities and an investigation into the accident has been underway.

Across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), fire hazards are not rare in illegal workers' compounds and misused residential districts, where scores of blue-collar workers shares small flats.